Knicks-Celtics, Wolves-Lakers to play on NBA Opening Night

The NBA’s opening night schedule will feature home games for the league’s two most accomplished franchises, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the Celtics will host the Knicks in the early game, while the Lakers will host the Timberwolves in the late game.

The Celtics, who won their record 18th NBA title in June, will receive their championship rings on opening night, which will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 22. That game will be the first for the new-look Knicks, featuring Mikal Bridges.

The game between the Lakers and Timberwolves will feature several stars who participated in Saturday’s gold medal game in Paris, including LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Lakers and Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert of the Wolves.

Both games will air on TNT Sports, which will be distributing NBA games for one final year in 2024-25, assuming their lawsuit against the league doesn’t result in a new broadcast rights deal that begins in ’25-26.

The full regular-season schedule for the 2024-25 NBA season is expected to be released later this week, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. In the meantime, here are a few more notable matchups, courtesy of Charania:

• The new-look Sixers, led by former MVP Joel Embiid, reigning Most Improved Player Tyrese Maxey, and free agent addition Paul George, will host the Bucks on Oct. 23 to open their regular season (Twitter link).
• The first regular season game at the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood will be played on Oct. 23, when the Clippers host the Suns (Twitter link).
• Klay Thompson and the Mavericks will visit the Warriors on Nov. 12 in Thompson’s first trip back to the Bay Area (Twitter link). That will also be the first game of the in-season tournament (NBA Cup) for both Dallas and Golden State (Twitter link).
• The NBA Finals rematches between the Celtics and Mavericks will take place on Jan. 25 in Dallas and Feb. 6 in Boston (Twitter link).
• In case you missed it, 2024’s Christmas Day matchups were reported last week.